David Spratley Quoted in Vancouver Sun Article Regarding Thwarted Copyright Levy on Digital Music Players

Published: Monday, 14 January 2008

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First published in the Vancouver Sun, Saruday, January 12, 2008 | Fiona Anderson

Who Has the Right to Copy What?

A levy on iPods and MP3 players has been turfed in court, but the squabble doesn't end there

Canadians won't be faced with a levy on iPods and MP3 players after all, as the Federal Court of Appeal this week overturned a Copyright Board decision to allow the levies.

And the uncertainty doesn't end there. Under current law, taping This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Hockey Night in Canada, or any television program to watch later -- something that millions of Canadians do -- is technically illegal, because the "copying for private use" section of the Act refers only to musical work. To date, however, no one has been charged.

Now with iPods not subject to a levy, that opens the question of whether copying a CD to an iPod may infringe copyright law.

Under the current law, consumers pay royalties for the privilege to copy music, in the form of a 21-cent levy on blank compact discs. The Canadian Private Copying Collective (CPCC) -- which collects and distributes royalties to artists -- asked for the levy on iPods and similar devices, saying they too were being used to copy music and therefore should be treated like blank CDs, except with a higher price tag -- as much as $75 per iPod.

In an interview earlier this week, David Basskin, a director at CPCC, said that the copyright law is a quid pro quo -- individuals pay the levy on blank CDs and in return they get an exemption from copyright laws to copy music for their own use.

So without a levy on iPods, is copying on to such a device from a CD now illegal, asks Vancouver lawyer David Spratley, an associate in Davis LLP's intellectual property group...

Read the full article: Who Has the Right to Copy What?